On to the Next Round!

Braidalot

The next pattern for Sock Madness came out late Saturday night. I knit like crazy for the next 5 days and was able to move on to the next round. I was 26 of 30 on my team. The team is full now. There is still a week to go until the next round, only 2 teams are full today.

But since I knit on these socks, I did not get my binding tacked down like I had hoped to do this week. Now I am free to work on the binding, so maybe next week's post will have a finished quilt!

Linking to:

Sarah

Nina-Marie

Is it really April? I thought March would never end!

Finished!

 I finished my first round socks in time and have moved on to the second round! Wahoo! They have not posted the next pattern yet, so I am working on a few things. I will have a finished quilt for next week's post. And I started a hat for Sweetie.

Nottingham

I bought this lovely yarn at an Alpaca shop in Sisters last summer. Then lost the bag! LOL! It showed up a couple of weeks ago. I chose a cabled pattern called Nottingham. So far it is easy, but I am ready to start the cables, so need to pay attention.

My little Eddy

And just because here is a cute picture of my dog. He hurt his leg recently and so we have been cutting way back on walks. He gets too excited and then jumps around and re-injures his leg. He is ten years old and getting a lot of grey on his brown head. Sweetest guy ever!

Linking to:

Beth

Judy

Beth

Leanne

Nina-Marie

Sarah

Hanging in There

It has been a rough week for the world. Just trying to hang in there.  I did get my Wohin? socks finished in time! Two hours to spare! I am on team Quick! Plan B in Sock Madness. There are 44 on the team, and 38 will move on to the next round.

Finished Wohin?

 We have had a lot of rain this last week. It has made it easy to stay away from anyone. We are able to take the dogs around the block to the neighborhood mailboxes. Our boys are ageing and the older one has hip issues, so he is slow and can't walk for extended time anymore.  I needed to see some different scenery, so sweetie and I drove out to the little reservoir and did a short walk. There was no one there except for the waterfowl.

Jackson Flats

 Anxiously awaiting the pattern drop for round one of Sock Madness all day on Wednesday was difficult. It finally dropped on Thursday. Diamond Duality is a very pretty pattern! I am not very proficient at color work, so it is a bit of a struggle. I just have to be one of the first 38 of my team to finish to make it to the next round.

Diamond Duality

I hope everyone is safe.


Linking to:

Sarah

Nina-Marie

Hang Tight

Hunkering down at home. I was scheduled to go to Empty Spools Seminars at Asilomar State Park for a conference that was to start on Sunday. The event has been canceled. Asilomar has shut down to the public since it will be used as a quarantine location.  I am sad about not attending, but I do realize that it is for the best. I had not gone to Empty Spools in 6 years and it was going to be a big treat. 

A rainbow

 On Wednesday as the information was coming around, we had some rain. And got a lovely rainbow!

Wohin?

 I am participating in Sock Madness again. I had fun last year, making it through several rounds. I am working on the qualifying round and it is due Saturday. I think I can make it. Especially since I no longer have to pack up for a long drive.

Saving Red Knoll

I am also working on my Stretching Art piece. The theme this year is "Community".  And since I will not be away from home for 2 weeks, I should be able to get this finished and in the mail easily before the deadline.


Linking to:

Nicole

Judy

Cooking up Quilts

Beth

Sarah

Jen

Nina-Marie

Spring Forward

I joined an online group called CoLaborArtQuilts. We are sent a couple of pieces of fabric and a word prompt. We are to make about a 15 inch squareish piece/top and then send it on to one of the other participants who will complete the piece.

Auditioning fabrics

The prompt came before the fabric, Sacred. My first thought was doing something with peace signs. Then people were receiving the fabric in the mail and it is pinks. My first thought of pink is that it is associated with female gender. Right now I feel that women's rights are threatened.

A Woman's Sacred Right to be the Boss of Herself

In a previous quilt I had used some free form cutting to represent a woman's curves.  So using that technique I made 3 hourglass like shapes and set them in a floral background. I used the stripey fabric to add interest. It is now in the hands of Artist #2.  I am looking forward to seeing what she does with my starting piece. I guess I don't have a finished photograph of my previous quilt using free form woman's curves. It is packed away, will share that next week.

Sacred is Love

And this came in the mail yesterday! I loved it as soon as I saw it! The fracturing is something I have done before! (see below) I have never worked with pleated fabric, so that will be a challenge. She hand dyed the blue fabric.

My Desert Quilt

When I was living in Sacramento in the early 00's, I made this quilt using a free form cutting technique using a ruler. It has won several ribbons over the years. Little did I know then that the colors match the landscape where we would be living in the future! It hangs in our office/TV room.

Saving Red Knoll

I just pulled fabric for another piece for the Stretching Art Challenge. The theme this year is "Community". I will write more about that in future posts.

Linking to:

Cooking up quilts

Judy

Beth

Nina-Marie

Sarah

Pillow talk

Our town hosted a hot air balloon festival. It was fun to watch the colorful balloons floating over the town!

Loved the strawberry!

Fun Jack-O-Lantern

My little art quilt group is having a pillow challenge. I made this out of an orphan block. I had a 14" pillow form on hand, so tried to use that. I quilted the block and then sewed on some bias binding in a swirl.

Pillow challenge

 A friend in my local guild showed me how to do a zipper closure instead of the overlapping flaps. I like the way it turned out! I don't do a lot of throw pillows, but will use this method when I do make any more.

Zipper back

Linking to:

Judy

Beth

Sarah

Nina-Marie

Home sewn by us

Beth

Finally feeling Human!

Sunset at the library

We started off the new year with a  visit from our daughter and 2 granddaughters (4 and 6). It was a wonderful visit! Except, sweetie and I both caught a horrible cold from the 4 year old. Finally feel like we are getting over the sickness.  Also, 4 year old left one of her "stuffies" behind.  A little kitty named "Sunset".  So to ease the situation we have been taking Sunset around town and sending the girls photographs of her adventures. Yesterday Sunset went to the library.

Knitmas scarf

I have only knit dishrags all autumn long. I saw a MKAL (mystery knit along) on Ravelry and decided to go for it. It is called Twelve Days of Knitmas. One clue each day for 12 days starting on December 26th. I didn't finish in the 12 days, more like 18. But it was fun to knit something other than dishrags.

Courthouse Steps

In November I tested a new class at my local guild. Courthouse Steps. I am still working on getting the pattern tidied up. I had a bunch of cut strips to show how to sew the blocks together leftover from class. I finally got all of them sewn and here is the batch of blocks. Right now I haven't decided on a setting. I am going to quilt as you go each block, trying out different designs.  I have a couple of other design options for this pattern, I will show them soon.



Linking up with:

Nicole

Beth

Nina-Marie

Birdie

Sarah